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While I may write about content marketing a lot, I still end up with very specific questions on the subject. And when I ask them if they’ve read my most recent articles, I usually get the same answer: “yes, but how does that work for my industry?” Which tells me that readers are desperate for information that is tailored to their specific industry or business. So, I figured I’d cover some of the most common industries I’m asked about and will be publishing these strategy articles in a series over the next few weeks. If I don’t talk about your industry in a particular article, check back soon, because I’ll probably cover it eventually.

Today I’m going to be covering an industry that is near and dear to my heart: SaaS or software as a service. It’s the vertical that I got my agency was able to gain traction in at the very beginning of our company’s history. Because of this, I’d wager that I have more experience in this industry than almost any other.

Getting Started

SaaS content marketing has some unique qualities that allows it to use strategies that might not provide an ROI when deployed in other industries. But because of the long-term value of a customer in the SaaS market, you’re able to have more flexibility and look further down the road than some of your marketing peers. But it does present other unique challenges. Because of the high customer lifetime value, you have bigger competitors in almost every SaaS vertical that are willing to spend massive amounts of money on channels like AdWords to not only gain new customers but to also suppress their smaller competitors. So you have to be crafty with your content marketing and avoid going guns to guns with your larger competitors.

Because SaaS buyers have so many different options nowadays, and because the barrier to switching products has become so low, you have to accept that you will most likely be getting shopped along with many of your competitors when your customers are considering your product. The buying process for your customers is anything but binary. Because of this, you’ll want to outline a detailed customer journey that identifies how and when your customers are engaging with your brand and what questions they’ll be faced with at different points in their journey.

Some people prefer to label the customer journey as a funnel, which I think is very helpful. But regardless of how you do it, just ensure that you’re identifying these three stages: awareness, consideration, and closing. Here’s a funnel we use at the agency that is very detailed:

In the awareness stage your customers are going to be discovering your brand, or coming to grips with the fact that they have a problem in the first place. This stage is an exploratory phase for them. They’ll be asking many questions that are topical and don’t delve too deep into your products functionality or features. So, use content that builds trust and helps them through the early stages of their problem solving.

Guides, videos, blogs, and podcasts are all great forms of content to use at the awareness stage. And you don’t want to have a heavy hand with your sales pitch. Instead, worry about solving their problems and building the beginning of a relationship with the potential customer.

Standing Out From The Crowd

Now that your customer is aware of their problem and that there is a solution to that problem, they’ll probably want to see what their options are when it comes to finding a vendor for that solution. This is the consideration stage of the journey. At this point, your customers are going to be comparing you to your competitors. They’ll be asking specific questions about your value proposition, features, pricing, and competitive advantages. You’ll want to ensure that while you’re touting the benefits of your company, you’re still not hitting them over the head with a sales pitch. Remember, customers are more savvy and informed than they’ve ever been because of the internet. You’ll want to respect their intelligence and allow them to interact with you on their terms.

Webinars, case studies, Q&A sessions, and data sheets are effective ways of sharing with your customer your differentiators while still not making them feel like they’re in a high-pressure sales situation.

Formalizing The Relationship

As I stated earlier, your content marketing campaign is about building a relationship with your customers. And this relationship should be built on trust. To this end, you’ll want to be aware of the challenges your customers will be facing as they’re deciding to use your product. These may include, budgeting, buying committees, existing software environments, and regulatory requirements. By understanding what they’re being faced with, you’ll be able to help them through these stages and make the buying process as smooth as possible for them.

ROI calculators, demos, free trials, video walkthroughs, and fact sheets are all great ways of helping your customers finalize their decision and gain additional trust in you and your products.

Don’t Forget To Promote

If content is king, then promotion is queen when it comes to marketing. So, while you’re creating a content campaign, don’t forget to focus on how you’ll be getting the content into the hands of your customers. Again, you should have methods outlined for each stage of the funnel.

For instance, SEO is a great way of having your customers find you during their awareness phase. If you have content on your site that answers their questions and helps them identify their problems, then you’re more likely to be included in the latter stages of their journey. Additionally, you’ll need to ensure that you remain persistent with your customers as they’re going through the different stages of their customer journey. Two effective ways of doing this are through remarketing/retargeting and marketing automation.

Remarketing and retargeting will allow you to keep a persistent message in front of your customers for up to 6 months. I’d suggest leveraging the Google ads network as well as Facebook and Twitter for your remarketing. And since all you need to do is get a cookie onto your customer’s browser, you can remarket to anyone who simply visits your site at least once.

And marketing automation is one of the most effective means of remaining in the conversation with your customers and continuing to build the relationship. But you do require an email address in order to reach your customer’s inbox. To do this, give them something of value in return. If you’ve developed a great piece of content, put it behind a gated form that requires the customer to give you some information in exchange for gaining access to the content.

Since I consider marketing automation a required activity in SaaS content marketing, I’d suggest you pay for a software that will help you automate the process and have the functionality you require. I reviewed a bunch of marketing automation software vendors in a previous article. Or you can take a look at some of the leaders in the market like Salesfusion, HubSpot, Marketo, and Eloqua.

I didn’t go into detail in this article on social promotion and other promotional techniques because those are articles all to themselves. But luckily I’ve written extensively on the subject. So go check out some of my previous articles or you can just check out this article.

I'm an entrepreneur and writer who is passionate about startups and marketing. I am also the founder of Foxtail Marketing, a digital demand generation firm that is one of…

I'm an entrepreneur and writer who is passionate about startups and marketing. I am also the founder of Foxtail Marketing, a digital demand generation firm that is one of the fastest growing agencies in the country. When I'm not working, writing, or speaking, I enjoy watching 80's action movies and spending time with my family. You can reach me on Twitter or LinkedIn.